2024:694 - Lyssyconnom, Ballymakegoge, Fenit, Kerry

Test trenching of the site was carried out in advance of a proposed single-dwelling development. The site contains a monument listed in the Record of Monuments and Places: Lissyconnom ringfort – rath (KE028-072—- ). A 1964 aerial photograph (CUAP AJW035) shows the monument undisturbed. It was levelled in the 1970s and by the time of a 1995 Tailte Éireann aerial image, an access road had bisected the ringfort, and houses occupied the northern half of the monument, with the exception of the current site. In 2023, the site was subject to an Archaeological Assessment by Laurence Dunne, who stated that the ringfort had been substantially/profoundly destroyed in the past. The report recommended test trenching.
Test trenching was carried out in 2024 and comprised two north–south aligned test trenches. Each trench measured 1.8m in width, and in total 83m of linear trenches were excavated. The test trenches were excavated to the natural subsoil or the top of archaeological deposits; the latter were exposed at depths of between 0.2m and 0.6m.
The presence of subsurface remains of the ringfort ditch was confirmed. Furthermore, remains of an inner bank and a previously unknown monument, a souterrain, were also exposed. The souterrain is located within the south-east portion of the site and consists of at least one chamber and two passages, with the upper passage/entrance to the northwest compromised in the past and collapsed. The chamber consisted of small and large slabs, stones and also included the upper stone of a rotary quern, measuring c. 0.73m in diameter and 0.15m in thickness with a central hole or eye measuring 0.14/0.15m in diameter. The quern stone had been repurposed to form part of the roof of the souterrain
chamber. Its eye was blocked with a small stone. This quern stone remains in situ.

Both upper and lower passages have large lintel stones. The chamber is dry-stone built, D-shaped in plan with a straight east-to-west aligned southern wall and a curving northern wall. The chamber size was estimated to be max. c. 2.3m high, c. 2.5–3m wide (north/south) by c. 3.5–4m long. Preliminary examination of the cut (C18) of the chamber suggests a large pit was dug, the sides were lined with stone and a corbelled roof was built and later buried. The chamber interior and the walls appear to be in very good condition, with only the upper passage/entrance collapsed and a couple of loose stones visible.
Additional features exposed consist of two pits, three ditches and possible pits and post-holes. The northern portion of the site was badly compromised in recent years, with deep excavations, exceeding 1.75m, backfilled with rubbish. The south-east portion of the site, where the souterrain was exposed, appears to be the least disturbed portion of the site.
The site contains significant archaeological remains, including a ringfort ditch, the remains of an inner bank, a souterrain and associated features of archaeological significance and potential.